Alexandra Efimenko came to the profession by way of her husband Peter, though ultimately made more significant contributions than he. A native of Arkhangelsk Province, she met and married Peter there in 1870, where he had been exiled from Little Russia for nationalist-oriented activities related to his work as an ethnographer. They returned in 1874, first to Chernigov and then Kharkov; his poor health, and their five children, kept the family dependent upon her publications and lectures. Working extensively in archives, she focused on the evolution of economic and social structures of peasants in various parts of European Russia. Invited to St. Petersburg to teach Ukrainian history in Betstuzhev Female courses, 1907—1917, in 1910 Kharkov University awarded her an Honorary Doctorate of History; she was the first female recipient. Ironically, she was murdered by the Ukrainian nationalist Petliura Army in December 1918. One daughter became a Silver Age poet, and one son an important Soviet archeologist.
Prospect